Homeless man's death treated as homicide

The death of a homeless man who was found behind a
disused grocery store in Auckland on Monday is now the subject
of a homicide investigation.

Maqbool Hussain, 49, was found dead by relatives in a
temporary squat in Balmoral after suffering what police
describe as a violent death.

A homicide investigation, codenamed Operation Gridley, has
been launched.

Mr Hussain was originally from Pakistan but had lived in New
Zealand since 1992.

He had been living in a partially enclosed garage storage
area of a former green grocery at 660 Dominion Rd for the
better part of a year, and was known to frequent local
businesses along the road, police said.

A scene examination at the site was completed early this
afternoon.

Officer in charge of the homicide investigation, Detective
Inspector Chris Cahill, said Mr Hussain had been fatally
assaulted sometime between 6.30pm on Saturday, March 22 and
midday on Monday, March 24.

"We have spoken to people who saw Mr Hussain alive in the
early evening of Saturday the 22nd and we're obviously very
interested in hearing from anyone who has information about
who he might have had interactions with recently.

"Mr Hussain is survived by an estranged wife and daughter who
live overseas but had regular contact with relatives and
acquaintances in the Balmoral neighbourhood.

"While he had hit hard times and lived in what some would
call rough circumstances, our inquiries to date lead us to
believe his lifestyle was comparatively routine and his
living area was organised and clean.

"Our focus right now is on the victim's family and trying to
narrow down the time Mr Hussain was killed and, of course,
identifying who killed him.''